Griffith Park is a huge park in the Hollywood hills which separate central Los Angeles and Hollywood from the San Fernando Valley. It encompasses much of that range and is reputedly the largest urban park and open space in the United States. It has numerous hiking trails, trails for bicycle riding, and horseback riding, and other amenities. It also is home to the iconic Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory.
One can reach the park many ways, including by driving into the partly, but traffic and parking can be problematic. We avoid driving and take the DASH Observatory bus which makes a circuit through part of the park to and from Vermont and Sunset, where the is a Metro station, making it quite convenient to get to the park that way.
The bus stops at, among others, the Greek Theatre, Mt Hollywood Dr on the far side of the Mt. Hollywood Tunnel, and Griffith Observatory. At Mt Hollywood Dr, there is immediate access to several hiking trails which go through the park, and also Mt. Hollywood Dr, generally open only to hiking,etc., and not to automobile traffic. This is one route to take to hike to the Hollywood Sign, and connects directly to a trail which goes up above, and behind, the sign, or to the Mulholland Trail, also used for horseback tours, which takes one to just below, and in front of, the sign. Depending on how fast one does it, the hike to and from the sign, starting at the Mt. Hollywood Dr bus stop near the observatory, should probably take between about 50 minutes to an hour and half each way. The area affords nice views of Los Angeles as well.